John Churchill was a great general who won the battle of Blenheim. If you know nothing about that, or him, you should look it up. The whole period of the Restoration and the following years is fascinating. (I will give you a tip to remember succession at the time:
cheeseburger. James I, Charles I, Commonwealth, Charles II, James II. As in bun, cheese, meat, cheese, bun. Granted it’s not the world’s greatest mnemonic device but you’ll just have to work with me here.) These people were politics and intrigue up the wazoo, let me tell you. Anyhow, Churchill was rewarded for his victory over the French with the title Duke of Marlborough, and also with this nice pile in the countryside, which is one bloody amazing palace. (And yes, Winston was a descendent, but was not himself Duke. Nonetheless Winnie was born in the palace. But he’s another story altogether, and another one worth studying.) The palace is divided into two tours. One, you walk through and see the house in its glory, checking out all the noble knickknacks. With the other, you walk through a sort of theme ride where video actors discuss the house’s building and subsequent owners, something of a walk through Carousel of Progress. My favorite thing in part two was when Marborough (i.e., the present Duke, who lives there in rooms one cannot visit) comes on the telly at the end to thank you for visiting. If you had to imagine the perfect modern English Duke, this is it. He is wearing stripes, checks, polka dots and ziggurats in every color under the sun, and he looks like he just ate a lemon. His Grace dresses like everyone who doesn’t care how they dress if they happen to own a palace. But Brits seem to be like that in general. When they don’t have to dress up, they make Americans look like Milan during Fashion Week. But on the other hand, for sports and the like, they dress up at the drop of a helmet. They’ve got cricket clothes and riding clothes and ruggers clothes—but I (uncharacteristically) digress.
Not only is there the palace at Blenheim, with its formal gardens and the like, but there is the rest of the grounds, designed by landscape architect (i.e., gardener on the grand scale) Capability Brown. Now there’s a name to contend with. I like a name like Capability, and would like to see more like it. His real name was Lancelot Brown. What can I say? He’s no Ashmole. Anyhow, you walk these grounds and I have to admit it is absolutely stunning. Trees are planted over acre upon acre of land in such
a way that everywhere you look there’s a vista, with incredible color detail. We were there in the height of spring and the photo gives you a sense in a sort of abstract way of what you would see everywhere. Normally I don’t care one way or the other for gardens (although I like photographing them) but even I was impressed by this one. Plus it was an absolutely gorgeous spring day, there were sheep grazing in the hillside… [Sigh!]
Blenheim, not far from Oxford—definitely worth a visit.
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